This year marks the 5th anniversary of the Saint-Lazare Medical Response Unit. The local pre-hospital service began providing emergency medical first response on December 6, 2003.
As a lead-in to that anniversary date, we present a series of profiles of the volunteers who provide this emergency service.
Name: Benoît Hébert
Position: Supervisor
Years with the service: 4
Medical background: none
Home: Saint-Lazare
Tell us what you were doing before you volunteered with the First Responders:
Before the First Responders, I wasn’t volunteering for anything. I was just enjoying myself. I used to play golf, cycle, travel – and I still do all of those things. At my house, woodworking is a hobby of mine.
I worked as a canine officer with what was at the time the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and then it became the Canada Border Services Agency. I still work for them.
What was your thinking when you decided to join the service?
When someone gets injured, I wanted to know what to do to help. I wanted to be able to know what to do in an emergency. Also, I always like to be part of a team, and I get that with the First Responders. And, I like to be in the middle of the action.
I saw an ad in the paper looking for more First Responders and I went to a meeting. At the meeting, the supervisor explained how joining worked and made clear that there was no pay. There was another First Responder there who said to us, ‘Whenever you go to a call and you save the day, the thank-you that you get and the smile that you get, is worth thousands of dollars.’ I thought I want that. Who wouldn’t?
Other than what to do in a medical emergency, what have you learned in your time as a First Responder?
I learned to dive! That wasn’t something I learned in the service, but one of the other First Responders is a diving instructor so he taught me that. I’ve picked up radio communications, which is interesting with all the different codes. I really enjoy the logistics parts of being a First Responder, like scene management and knowing all the equipment. I recently became a supervisor in the service, so now I’m learning the management aspect that goes with that.
For more information about the Saint Lazare Medical Response Unit, joining the first responders, or the CPR Program (RCR Saint-Lazare CPR) call 450.455.5824, e-mail info@saintlazare911.com, or visit online at www.saintlazare911.com.
